1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for electrically processing each of images wherein an operator can automatically set up image processing conditions based on desired finishing information to form a reproduced image having the optimum hue.
2. Description of the Related Art:
An image scanning reading and reproducing system is widely used in the printing and platemaking fields, for example, for electrically processing image information stored in originals or subjects to be read so as to produce original film plates with a view toward simplifying working processes and improving the quality of printed images.
In order to produce original film plates according to the purpose in an image processing apparatus of the image scanning reading and reproducing system, a so-called pre-scan operation for firstly feeding an original cassette to a reading unit and then setting up conditions (hereinafter called "image processing conditions") such as magnification, image processing, etc. is carried out. Then, a so-called main-scan operation for setting up the optimum image processing conditions based on image information obtained by the pre-scan operation and reading image information again in accordance with the image processing conditions is performed.
An image processing condition setting method for adjusting the hues in an image, which is employed in the image processing apparatus, has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-50859. According to the disclosure, regions for storage or memory colors (colors which still remain in his or her memory from his or her visual experience) are set in a RGB three-dimensional hue space. Then, image processing conditions are set up to determine pixels of the memory colors as the standard hue when the rate at which pixels of an image obtained by the pre-scan operation are included in the regions referred to above reaches the given threshold value or greater.
The above disclosure has, however, a problem that when objects such as a wooden wall, a sand beach, etc. having colors similar to a skin color exist in an image or picture, they are also recognized as objects to be processed, so that appropriate image processing conditions cannot be set up.
Therefore, the present applicant has proposed a means in which particular spots or places at which image processing conditions are set up are designated or specified and the image processing conditions are set only to the particular spots, thereby making it possible to avoid such a problem (see Japanese Patent Application No. 2-229706).